Shadow: Bloody Fairies Part 38

Water bubbled on the fire behind her. Hippy stayed in her chair while Nikifor prepared drinks and Pierus sat beside her.

Nikifor looked pale and frightened at being in the same room as Pierus. When he set hot cups down, their eyes met. Hippy gave him a hard stare, hoping desperately he'd understand. She flicked her eyes to Pierus and back.

Nikifor cleared his throat. "My king-"

Pierus glanced at him. "What is it?"

It was all she needed. Hippy dropped the ball into his coffee and s.n.a.t.c.hed her hand back with one quick motion.

"My king I hope your coffee is to your taste." Nikifor's hair fell across his face. The shadows under his eyes made him look like the skeleton in the laboratory.

"Well surely you can get a simple thing like coffee right."

Hippy hid her face in the steam rising from her cup. The heat warmed her fingers. Her eyes widened. That didn't smell like tea. She took a cautious sip. The coffee slid down her throat like honey. Her brain began to thaw.

Pierus raised his cup to his lips. Hippy watched him over the rim of her coffee. She took continual tiny sips in case he found out and took it away from her.

He made a satisfied noise. "Not bad for a first attempt, Nikifor." He took another mouthful. "There's a flavour here I don't recognise, but it's rather good."

Hippy giggled into her coffee. She took a gulp.

Pierus swallowed another mouthful and turned to Hippy. "What's so amusing?"

She shrugged and tipped the rest of her coffee down her throat. Her blood raced.

Pierus brought the cup to his mouth. Hippy watched with big eyes over the rim of her empty cup. He'd drunk almost the whole thing. Most people only got through half of a drink before it started.

He rubbed his throat.

She giggled again.

Pierus sprayed coffee all over the table. "What have you done?" His breath rasped.

Hippy gave him her sweetest smile. "I gave you choking powder."

Nikifor dropped what he was carrying. Gla.s.s smashed on the flagstones.

Pierus rasped again. His hand went to his throat. He made a sound like a sick bullfrog. "Nikifor," he rasped. "Help me. No, stop her!"

Hippy sent her chair flying into the wall. She winked at Nikifor, who was pale and frozen. "Thanks for the coffee," she said. "You won't die, Pierus, if you don't fight it." Then she bolted.

She ran up the stairs twice as fast as normal, burst into the laboratory, tore a piece of the curtain and threw it over Clockwork's hands.

The glow disappeared. Clockwork looked around, his eyes unfocused.

Hippy clicked her fingers in front of his face. "Clockwork. Clockwork! Look at me now. We have to go. Fast. Very fast. I like coffee."

He focused and looked around the laboratory, then back at his hands, still covered by the curtain. His lips drew back and he gave an angry yell. "Where's my shiny thing?"

"It's a trap," Hippy said. "It's not a nice shiny thing." She jumped up and down on the spot. "Come on, come on, we have to go!"

This time Clockwork focused on her. Then his hand went to his neck. His fingers explored the wound. "What in Shadow happened?"

"Pierus made you look at the shiny thing while Rustam Badora drank your blood please can we go?"

Clockwork dropped the curtain and the fairy trap. Then he jumped up and down on it. Something smashed. He pulled aside the cloth.

They crowded over what was underneath. A thin plume of smoke rose from the smashed gla.s.s and copper wires. Clockwork leaned in and picked up something small and metallic. "It's a conduit," he said.

"What's that?"

"It holds electricity." He turned toward the bright electrical cage. "Stand back."

Hippy backed up several paces and kept jumping up and down on the spot. "What are you doing? Can't we just go? I swear I can outrun the roses. Pierus isn't going to choke forever."

Clockwork looked over his shoulder at her. "Are you okay?"

"I had coffee."

His eyes widened. "Really? Well, just wait a minute. We're not going without the Apple of Chaos." He went to the forest person skeleton, considered for a minute, then secured the conduit in the bony fingers. He carried the skeleton to the cage, positioned it, jammed the conduit into the electricity, ran to Hippy and backed away with her fast.

Sparks flew from the cage. Lightning cracked through the air and poured into the conduit. The skeleton trembled. A couple of sparks shot out of the skull. Then the cage exploded in a brilliant flash of light and clap of thunder.

Hippy clapped her hands. "Yay! Can we do it again?"

"No." Clockwork grabbed the curtain and wrapped it around the skeleton. "But if I'm not mistaken, we can find out how those roses feel about electricity."

Hippy searched through the rubble on the floor for the Apple. "Hey," she said, "How come there's only this one little bit left?"

"He must have hidden all the rest already." Clockwork studied the piece, which was the size of her little finger. "Never mind. It'll be enough."

"Enough for what?" Hippy followed when Clockwork picked up the skeleton and ran for the door.

"You'll see."

They raced down the stairs. Hippy grabbed the feet of the skeleton to steady it, since it was a good deal taller than either her or Clockwork. "How come we're taking Bones?"

"I think the forest people might want him back."

They skidded to a halt at the bottom of the stairs. Pierus curled over on himself right in the middle of the floor, retching, choking, gasping for air. He dragged himself toward the fairies and pointed with a bony finger. He tried to articulate a word, but choked before the first syllable.

"Choking powder?" Clockwork said.

"My sister gave it to me. She's the smartest fairy I know."

They edged around him.

Pierus made a furious hissing noise and struck his fist on the ground.

They ran for the door, but were once more forced to a halt when Nikifor barred the way.

Clockwork brandished a fist at him. "Move, Muse!"

Nikifor looked from one to the other.

"We're going now," Hippy said. "Come with us, Nikifor. You don't have to serve the muse king anymore."

"The roses," he said.

"Clockwork has a plan."

"It's not going to work for three of us unless we can get up high," Clockwork said.

"The cart." Nikifor strode into the garden.

"A cart would work." Clockwork ran after him.

Behind them, Pierus was still struggling to articulate. "Bad-" he choked. "Ba-Bad-"

Only after they had run after Nikifor could they hear his roar as he finally got out the whole word, followed by a prolonged choking fit.

"Badora!"

Nikifor went straight to a tumbledown shed at the corner of the garden, where he dragged out the big, clumsy covered cart. He went around the side and unpenned the donkeys.

Clockwork jumped onto the back of the cart. "Too slow," he said. "And heavy. We need to get rid of this roof."

Nikifor drew his sword and sliced it through the sides of the heavy leather walls. Hippy and Clockwork caught the roof and pushed it into the gra.s.s.

Nikifor went to herd the donkeys out.

"No!" Clockwork yelled. "Too slow. Hippy help me here."

Hippy helped him lift the skeleton onto the cart. Clockwork secured the skeleton in place, standing up, with the halters not needed for the donkeys.

"What are you planning?" she asked.

"I'll pull the cart," he said, beckoning Nikifor closer. "You two push. When the sparks start flying, get on and stay low." He grinned. "Trust me, this'll work. I thought of it myself. Are you okay, Muse?"

"Fine." Nikifor gripped the side of the cart and bent over slightly. His face had gone white.

Hippy cast him a worried glance. "The vibe's making him sick," she whispered.

Clockwork shook his head. "Stupid muses. Come on." He picked up the shaft and pulled the cart away from the shed.

Hippy and Nikifor leaned on the back and pushed. The cart was heavy. Hippy really had no idea how this was going to work, but the coffee was still making her blood race. She felt really, really good and definitely up for racing toward certain death by baby killer rose.

They picked up speed when they pa.s.sed the fountain. Then they faced a sea of killer roses grown into knee-high bushes. A low wind made the leaves tremble as far as the eye could see.

"Hippy, the Apple." Clockwork hopped onto the cart.

Hippy joined him and handed over the sliver of Apple.

"Stand back." Clockwork strapped the sliver of gla.s.s into the skeleton's wrist bones, right next to the conduit still held in the finger bones. When it was secure, he pushed it until it just touched. A spark flew out. "You two," he said. "Think about speed. Now let's go."

Hippy jumped down the back. "Think about speed," she said to Nikifor.

He took a deep breath. Sweat stood out on his forehead. "Speed," he said.

"Go!" Clockwork yanked the cart forward.

They ploughed into the roses. The cart picked up momentum. Sparks exploded from the skeleton's hand and rained down on roses turning their way.

"On the cart!" Clockwork yelled. He jumped up, ran all the way across and hauled Hippy on. They both grabbed Nikifor's arms and hauled him up too.

Instead of slowing and stopping as Hippy expected, the cart picked up speed. Sparks continued to fly from the skeleton's hand. The sliver of Apple glowed with bright white light.

"It's working!" Clockwork grabbed both Hippy and Nikifor and pulled them down low. "The Apple's not only releasing the electricity in the conduit, it's generating an electric field!"

Hippy didn't understand a word of it, but she whooped with excitement anyway. All around them she could see roses jerking and twisting toward the cart, only to be driven back and burned every time a spark fell on them. They sped under the arch and out into the endless garden. She hugged Clockwork. "You're a genius!"

"Keep thinking about speed. This is really working!"

The cart hurtled through the roses. Sparks flew faster and faster. The forest sped toward them.

Nikifor's eyes rolled back in his head and he fell backward.

"Nikifor!" Hippy grabbed him and dragged him away from the edge. She shook him. "Nikifor wake up!"

"We need him!" Clockwork yelled. "The cart's slowing down!"

Hippy looked at the sea of roses behind them and wished she hadn't. There was a blur of movement through the bushes. A flash of black and a glimpse of silver. Her breath caught. They were so close to the end of the roses. At least two of them could escape if the third provided enough distraction.

She seized Clockwork's face and kissed him hard on the lips. "Don't look back," she said. "No matter what. You have to go get my sister Ishtar and bring her back here. Run as fast as you can, they're not planning to kill me until tomorrow."

"No!" Clockwork tried to hold her back.

"Get my sister here." Hippy jumped off the slowing cart and shoved it as hard as she could.

The cart hurtled to safety.

Hippy turned in the direction of the castle. The roses that had been reaching out for her pulled back.

Rustam Badora, every inch of skin suited and masked, had been going so fast clods of turf went flying up around him when he skidded to a stop. He picked her up by the back of the shirt and dangled her in the air.

"Apparently," he said, "You've been a very bad b.l.o.o.d.y Fairy."